Insurance company PZU is joining the group of financial institutions planning to lay off staff this year.

"We plan to enter a mass program of lay offs, which might result in sacking 600 persons in our headquarters. We shall conduct consultation talks and we hope to reach an agreement with the trade unions. Following that approval we shall begin structural changes, which should be concluded this year," said Andrzej Klesyk, president of PZU.

In this way Puls Biznesu's unofficial information was confirmed, but the planned scale of redundancies will be smaller than anticipated.

"We are champions of the world in spending too much on administration," said Klesyk. However Puls Biznesu suggested that this might be the beginning of a plan of staff reductions in the group employing a total of 15,500 persons.

"The restructuring process is not a one-off step. We shall analyze further ways of optimizing costs. Without the change in tools and reforming the working system, field restructuring is not possible," said Andrzej Klesyk. The potential cost of the planned reduction in staff is estimated at about zł.100 million.

Sources: Puls Biznesu; Parkiet; Rzeczpospolita